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When it’s Mother’s Day and even your mom has counted you out, you know there’s a lot of work to do.

A slow start to Rickie Fowler’s final round at the Players Championship had his family heading to the airport, but the 26-year-old went on to deliver one of the greatest Sunday performances the sport has ever seen.

Fowler shot six-under over his final six holes in regulation before birdieing the island green 17th hole twice in a playoff to win at TPC Sawgrass.

Not to worry, mom and sister got word of Rickie’s charge.

“I knew they were planning to leave at four or so, so I assumed with my less-than-stellar first 12 holes that they were well on their way,” Fowler said.

But the Fowler ladies weren’t going to miss the Mother’s Day present Rickie was cooking up for his mom Lynn, and with sister Taylor at the wheel they made it back to the course.

“She can handle herself behind the wheel,” Fowler said. “We grew up riding and racing dirt bikes. She can manage.”

The ladies arrived in time to see their Rickie roll in a four-and-a-half foot putt at the famous par 3 to win the championship on the fourth playoff hole.

Kevin Kisner failed to make his birdie putt from just over 12 feet to force a fifth hole and Sergio Garcia was eliminated in the three-hole aggregate portion of the playoff. It was the first year for the aggregate playoff, which was played over hole Nos. 16, 17 and 18.

For much of the day, Garcia, who won the 2008 Players Championship in a sudden-death playoff, looked like the frontrunner before Fowler caught fire and dazzled with four birdies and an eagle over his final six.

“I was out of the golf tournament through 12 holes today and we managed to fight our way back in,” he said.

The turning point in regulation came when Fowler followed up a birdie at the 15th with a miracle second shot at the par-5 16th. His 243-yard three-wood barely carried the water before stopping just two-and-a-half feet from the hole.

It happened at nearly the same moment Garcia missed an eight-foot birdie putt at the 13th that would have given him a three-shot cushion. Fowler tapped-in for eagle and suddenly was one shot back.

At the 17th, the most pressure-packed hole in golf, he made another birdie to get to 11-under par.

Garcia’s bogey at the 14th, and yet another Fowler birdie at the closing hole, sent the American star to the clubhouse with a two-shot lead after posting 12-under. The flashy Fowler gave a subdued fist pump and then was forced to wait and see what the seven remaining groups would do.

A more than hour-long wait didn’t affect Fowler in the playoff.

He played the island green twice more in extra play, and both times attacked the pin and made birdie. In three trips to the hole on Sunday, he hit his gap wedge to inside seven-feet all three times.

Over the week, he made five birdies in six chances at the hole.

“Big thanks to 17,” Fowler said. “It was a big help this week.”

For Garcia, it went from being a career week to another week that sums up his career. The 35-year-old has had plenty of highs and lows since turning pro at 19.

On Friday, he missed six putts from inside 10 feet and snapped his putter over his knee after his round. Garcia played the best golf for most of Sunday’s round but there was no stopping Fowler.

Kisner, who has never won a tournament on the PGA Tour, showed plenty of mettle birdieing two of his final holes to get in the playoff. The 31-year-old American lost in a playoff last month at the RBC Heritage to Jim Furyk.

The Players Championship seemed to evolve into an endurance test heading into Sunday.

For much of the week, the tight, punitive TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course forced the field to play conservatively. Risk-takers were convinced to settle for pars because anything else seemed foolish.

But the Pete Dye layout once again proved that the dramatic, pressure-packed closing holes deliver a great finish. And with nothing left to lose, the world’s best threw caution to the wind and took on the course in a finish for the ages.

Americans Bill Haas and Ben Martin both had a chance to join the playoff at the 72nd hole. Haas needed a birdie and chose to putt his ball from off the green but couldn’t get it to drop. Martin needed just a par but couldn’t make it.

Canada’s David Hearn (-2) entered Sunday with a chance to claim his first PGA Tour victory but left disappointed after shooting 78.

Hearn said all week that he loves the test of playing TPC Sawgrass, but the course finally bit him. He hit balls in the water on Nos. four and seven, shattering any championship hopes by making a triple and double bogey.

Rory McIlroy (-8) was hoping to post an early low score and give the leaders something to think about but couldn’t muster a charge. McIlroy pointed to his putting as the reason he couldn’t get in the mix this week.

“Every round is under par, every round I’m hitting a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, I’m just, it’s there,” the North Irishman said. “I’m hoping -- I’m not hoping -- I’m expecting a week where if I go out and hole putts, I’ll do what I’ve done before and win easily.”

Tiger Woods’ game was in large part exposed by Sawgrass. He is next scheduled to play in Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament in three weeks.

Fresh off of a Saturday round where he beat Woods by five shots, Weyburn, Sask.’s Graham DeLaet struggled to hit fairways on the front nine and shot a two-over 74 to finish the weekend where he started it at even par.

Rounding out the Canadian crew, Nick Taylor (+5) shot 79 in his final round, while Adam Hadwin missed the cut.